Echo
by EHWIES
Summary: And maybe, in the end, he'd still find that he could summon the sound of her voice...


A/N: This is kind of weird, but in my opinion, it's weird in a cool way, so deal with it. XD As is with my one-shots, I wrote this last September (I didn't post ANY KND other than my chapter story, His Silver Platter's, updates for ages), so yeah. Anyways, I hope you like it! Leave a review when you're finished. ;)

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She had worked hard, he had to give her that. Wally couldn't begin to count the number of hours he had spent tearing out his hair at the sound of her voice echoing through the treehouse. All throughout lunchtime and classes at school, while flopped on the sofa and blowing at her bangs as she idly danced through long division, when tinkering with her Rainbow Monkey tea set on lazy weekend afternoons: Kuki's soft humming, up and down in scales, was always there. She'd practice in her room for hours on end every Sunday night as Wally dozed to her lingering voice. A room seemed empty without here there, whispering the words to any given song, and he'd find himself straining to hear her voice.

It haunted his dreams, but it was a warm haunt, the kind that left him longing for the next night to come when he awoke and tried fruitlessly to clear his head. Granted, Kuki's vocal quality paled in comparison to Abby's, but her aims were high and hopeful, and the effort had soon begun to pay off. A light vibrato wove through the notes she sang, replacing the flat quality she had so long possessed, and though her pitch wasn't quite perfect, she'd miss by such a slight margin that any listener couldn't quite place a finger on just what made her song eerie but sweet, wrong but right. Now that the teacher had found Abby's talent, Kuki no longer held the lead role, but hers was still a memorable one she held dear to her heart. Her only solo took his breath away and made every other number seem empty.

As usual, Wally didn't get a part. It wasn't that he minded; he hated to sing, and doing such a thing in public would surely make him wet himself the moment he stepped onstage. But he still couldn't help but feel a little bit jealous of Hoagie when his voice and hers laced together in duet when Kuki forced him to practice with her. Wally knew it was pointless to dream about what he didn't want and couldn't have had if he did, but it was his instinct, after all.

Nigel, if anyone, understood. Wally could tell whenever he would feel more sulky than usual and saw the knowing gleam of recognition in Nigel's eyes. On ordinary occasions, he would have turned to Nigel and Hoagie equally: they were both, of course, his best friends. But Hoagie was too caught up in the moment to stop for a sideliner, and only Nigel was there to help. Sometimes Wally thought that Nigel knew better than he how he felt: a little jealous, a little longing, but mainly just confused as to why his stomach seemed to flutter whenever she passed by and notes higher than high escaped her lips.

She had worked hard, he had to give her that, and for the better part of a year at that. They were eleven now. Another year had flown by since their first five-way friendship in first grade; another twelve months had strengthened their closeness even more; another fifty-two weeks gave Wally the ever-increasing feeling that his friends were more family than anything to him. Maybe the saying went that friends would come and go, but Wally knew it wasn't that way.

True, they would be decommissioned in two years, though Abby was positive for reasons unbeknownst to him that they would not; but Wally knew that even if they did forget one another, they would find each other soon enough. True, tensions were often high between them, and fights erupted at least once a week over missions, preferences, or something as silly as Rainbow Monkeys, but this only convinced Wally more that nothing could tear them apart. What was their bond if they could not find trust enough to know that they'd still stick together when their worst sides showed through?

He knew that it was selfish of him to do so, but he often just acted cruel to his friends to bask in the luxury of knowing that he wouldn't be given up on for it. It was because of this that Wally had stopped keeping secrets months ago. It was because of this that he made sure to share moments free of his temperamental moodiness, moments in which everyone knew that he wasn't fooling around and meant every kind word he said. Moments like the one he found himself in at that very given second as he and Nigel silently but knowingly exchanged looks before taking off through the auditorium and heading for the finished actors as they hopped off the stage, finished with the fifth grade winter musical.

"Everyone was well-cast, don't you think?" asked Nigel, his face flushed with good cheer, as the pair found themselves in a aisle holdup.

Wally nodded enthusiastically, standing on his toes and peering with effort over others' shoulders in the attempt to find a way to reach the others. "Definitely," he concurred. "It was great with Numbuh 2 and not those cruddy Delightful Dorks in the lead boy role. He really owned up to the part, huh?"

"Yeah," said Nigel simply for a moment as they wormed their way through an opening in the mass of fellow students and parents. "Kind of surprising that they did a love triangle, though. I mean, we're only in fifth grade!"

"Uh-huh," replied Wally absently, his thoughts trailing. Funny, wasn't it, that Hoagie, Kuki, and Abby had made up the said triangle. "Dating is for cruddy teenagers. Well, unless it's light and there's no kissing and junk," he added quickly, not wanting to offend Nigel for having a girlfriend. Wally was somewhat surprised that he'd stayed with Lizzie: he could see that Nigel was fond of her, but dating the girl seemed a little too much even as is.

Luckily, Nigel didn't take it the wrong way. "Dead on, Numbuh 4. I mean, if it's innocent-- oh, there they are!" He abruptly interrupted himself to wave to Hoagie, who seemed to be trying to meet their eyes. In turn, he nudged the girls and pointed openly; Wally felt a slight brush creep up on him when Kuki immediately greeted him first but thought nothing of it at the time.

They finally got to the trio and could see why it had taken so long to reach them. It seemed that the lead roles had much admiration this year around, and all three were laden down with bouquets of flowers, nonetheless from classmates. He noted, hardly surprised, that Kuki seemed to be getting the most fan attention, but Hoagie couldn't care less as he began animatedly speaking about how nerve-wracking the whole affair was, while Abby seemed quite content with a single white rose that she kept fingering apart from the others.

While Kuki busied herself with actually signing an autograph or two, Wally edged over to Abby and smiled slightly. "You did great up there, Numbuh 5," he complimented sincerely. "Looks like Numbuh 3's pressure paid off-- not that you needed it."

Abby laughed a little and grinned at him. "Thanks, Numbuh 4," she said. There was no mistaking the satisfaction in her voice that time. "But I think I did end up needing it. Numbuh 3 sure seems to be popular with the fans, doesn't she?"

Wally took another glance behind him and couldn't resist a smirk. "Yeah," he shrugged, his curiosity getting the better of him. "Who's the rose from?"

She didn't speak for a moment, running a finger delicately over the petals. "Cree," Abby finally managed, looking back up at him and making a happy little noise in the back of her throat. "I'm surprised she came at all. The teenagers had something planned for tonight, but she must have skipped it."

"Then she has good in her, doesn't she, to care about you as a sister?"

Abby just smiled. "I'd better say thanks before she starts trying to kill me again. Why don't you say hi to your girlfriend over there while she has a second?"

Wally glared at her halfheartedly but still waved as she retreated into the crowd. His eyes flicked between Hoagie and Kuki: the former was still occupied with Nigel, and Kuki did seem to have a moment to spare. Optimistically, he poked her in the shoulder. She whirled, startled, before bursting into giggles and throwing her free arm around him in a breakneck hug. "Hi, silly!" she exclaimed brightly.

He wrenched himself out of her grasp before saying, "Hey, Numbuh 3."

Kuki launched into a delighted conversation of how much fun performing had been, and Wally rubbed the back of his neck nervously before gently interrupting. "Uh, Numbuh 3?" he asked quickly.

Next to him, Hoagie and Nigel snickered a tad as Kuki replied, "Yeah?"

He lowered his heel on Hoagie's toes and held back a smirk at the howl of pain behind him. "Great job onstage and all," he murmured.

"Thanks," she said simply, hardly noticing as another rose was placed precariously in her arms. Wally nodded in acknowledgment.

It wasn't until hours later, as he threw down his video game controller in defeat upon losing to Kuki once again, that he got out the question he'd known in his gut that he wanted to ask. "Kuki?"

"Mmh?" she mumbled, pulling the plug on the gaming system and yawning into her loose sleeve. She plopped back down next to him and leaned against the back of the couch, her eyes drooping closed.

Wally gazed at her fondly before asking softly, "When you go off to Hollywood, make it big, date rich, famous guys, and have movie stars fawning all over you... will you think of me back home?"

He could tell that she was sleepy, but he knew that her answer was honest. "Of course I will, Wally."

Wally couldn't help but give her hand a gentle squeeze before he stood to leave the room. After all that hard work, she deserved it.


End file.
